


Just a Grande Blonde Roast

by Faillen



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Coffee Addict Tony Stark, Coffee Shop, Getting Together, M/M, Original Character POV, POV Outsider, Post-Avengers (2012), Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-20 23:07:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3668589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faillen/pseuds/Faillen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a Tuesday afternoon when Anthony Stark, self proclaimed genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist walked into the Starbucks she worked at for the forty third time since he'd started commuting to New York to build Stark Tower and, Lillie Welsh was, frankly, a tad bit wary.</p>
<p>Emphasis on tad.</p>
<p>Yes, Tony Stark was a wonderful man with a large heart and even larger intentions, as proven by his actions during the battle of New York, all of which had occurred no more than a minute's walk from the coffee shop on 45th, no less than a week ago.</p>
<p>But like his heart and intentions, his coffee orders were also large, complicated things.</p>
<p>Frankly, they were terrifying and frustrating.</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p>A story of ridiculous coffee orders and some... not so ridiculous ones that are probably more than 'a bit' telling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just a Grande Blonde Roast

**Author's Note:**

> So, I started this because I love Outsider POVs on my OTP relationships.
> 
> Somehow, it evolved into a story about a Starbucks barista who was stuck with Tony's ridiculous coffee orders and their Tony-centric view on everything post-Avengers, both canon and... not so canon.
> 
> Also, the use of coffee as a symbolic device is kind of ridiculous in this.

 It was a Tuesday afternoon when Anthony Stark, self proclaimed genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist walked into the Starbucks she worked at for the forty third time since he'd started commuting to New York to build Stark Tower and, Lillie Welsh was, frankly, a _tad_ bit wary.

Emphasis on tad.

She knew who Tony Stark was. Who didn't? She had watched the news cover stories of his disappearance and then his valiant escape. Nodded in silent respect as he threw his company into chaos, announcing the shutdown of weapons manufacture. Watched as they talked conspiracy and saw it live when Stark had announced it

_I am Ironman._

She'd shaken her head and laughed when she saw the Senate debates and frowned when the media turned on him. He was a good man, and when she saw the reports about the Hammerdroid attacks, she'd smiled, for she had been right.

And yes, Tony Stark was a wonderful man with a large heart and even larger intentions, as proven by his actions during the battle of New York, all of which had occurred no more than a minute's walk from the coffee shop on 45th, no less than a week ago.

(Lillie had a sneaking suspicion that Stark had a hand in making sure the shop didn't get destroyed during the battle, since it suffered almost no damage despite being right around the corner from Stark Tower)

Like his heart and intentions, however, his coffee orders were also large, complicated things.

Mind you, he wasn't rude about it if Lillie messed up his order, but they were still challenging to make and fickle. (She'd messed one up, the twentieth time he came, just to see his reaction. He'd just taken a swig, grinned at her, tipped and walked out the door. She'd stared after him, slightly dumbfounded.)

She just wasn't willing to deal with it. Not today at least.

The Chitauri attacks had left New York destroyed.

The apartment building where she'd been living had been destroyed and at the moment, she was living with a friend. She barely had any savings, most of them going towards student loans. And despite her friends goodwill, honestly, Lillie was more than a little bit fed up with sitting on her friends couch every weekend, eating ramen and watching Netflix on her laptop with the volume all the way up while her friend got it on in the next room over.

After all, she could only turn her volume up so high so that her ears wouldn't be blown out, and sadly, this meant that a lot of noises she'd rather not hear weren't blocked out.

She was exhausted and cranky and so not willing to deal with a "Venti Soy Vanilla Mocha with two pumps of Hazelnut and low fat whip cream and chocolate shavings" or "whatever else Tony Stark came up with today".

She was fully prepared to glare and slap a Blonde Roast coffee in front of him, instead of the monstrosity of complexity he would most likely be coming up with, and not care about the consequences because she was. Just. So. Done. Even though Tony Stark may be a wonderfully generous person, she was not willing to deal with it.

So imagine her surprise when, once he got to the front of the line, he just looked at her co-worker, Jason at the register with a large, plastic smile and ordered exactly that.

"Grande Blonde Roast please. As strong as you can make it."

She paused for a second and looked at Jason, making sure that she'd heard that right. Jason simply shrugged and turned back to the next customer, leaving her staring at the flavored syrup pumps, slightly confused. _Just_ a Grande Blonde Roast?

Despite her surprise, she was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so she made the coffee quickly and set it down on the counter with a smile.

"Grande Blonde Roast for Mr. Stark."

He walked up to the counter, his step lacking his usual swagger and grabbed the coffee, giving her a small smile back. She quickly nodded to him in acknowledgement as he dropped some money in the tip jar and she turned back to the espresso machine as he walked out the door.

(He was back to ordering his extremely complicated drinks the next time he came in. Lillie dismissed the "only a Grande Blonde Roast" incident as a unicorn-like, once-in-a-lifetime marvel)

 

* * *

 

But it wasn't.

A little more than six months later, after she'd finally scrounged up enough money to start renting her own place again, Tony walked into the cafe with a pair of sunglasses on, despite the general cloudiness outside. The normally immaculate man looked slightly disheveled, and there was a bruise forming high on his forehead. _From the Mandarin attack_ , her brain supplied helpfully.

It was mostly empty in the shop, as Tony had come in near the end of her shift, which was, coincidentally, the end of the lunch break rush. Because of the general decrease in people, she was working both the register and the machines, as Jason had stepped out for a second to get some "air".

"Welcome to Starbucks. What can I get you?" She chimed out as he approached the register. He smiled faintly.

"Just a Grande Blonde Roast." Lillie paused for a second, hovering her finger over the Venti option she'd expected him to order. Another Grande Blonde Roast? She recovered quickly and punched in the order before spinning around to make the coffee and handing it to him. He took it and handed her his credit card. She pretended not to notice the slight tremble in his hand as she swiped it and handed it back to him.

"Have a good day!"

"Thank you. You too." He smiled once again, and it was noticeably plastic.

(While she browsed the online forums later that night in the comfort of her own, real bed, she ended up gaping at Tony’s official statement in regards to him stepping down from the mantle of Ironman.)

 

* * *

 

The next time that Lillie was spared from making yet another extremely complicated drink was another six months later.

Tony's arrival was preluded by a sudden influx of reporters outside the shop as the man walked in, shouldering his way through the sea of questions and cameras.

He walked into the shop, obviously disgruntled, with his sunglasses on. Some of the more determined reporters followed him in while others continued shouting outside.

"Mr. Stark! What's your take on the situation with SHIELD."

"Mr. Stark! What are your thoughts on the vast amount of information that has been released?"

"Mr. Stark! Have you been in contact with either Black Widow or Captain America after the release of the classified information?"

"Mr. Stark! What do you have to say to the accusations that Peggy Carter knowingly allowed HYDRA into SHIELD and was actually on their side?"

The last question caused Tony to slam his hand on the counter and spit out his order, causing both Lillie and Jason to jerk.

"Grande Blonde Roast."

Then he swiveled on his heel and went out into the fray, and the questions finally stopped as he began to speak in a low voice. Lillie strained her ears but couldn't make out exactly what he was saying. Realizing that she'd most likely be able to find his response online within the next few hours, she reluctantly turned to the coffee order at hand.

By the time Tony had finished whatever he was saying to the reporters outside, the coffee was done and waiting for him on the counter. He took it with a tight-lipped smile and walked outside once again, where he was once more followed by the reporters. She looked on, watching as he got into a car waiting on the street, movements sharp and angry, before turning back to the syrup pumps.

(She did indeed find a video of his statement online:

"Do you even hear the bullshit coming out of your mouth? Peggy Carter was a hero, and accusing her to be a traitor of everything she stood for is absolutely ridiculous. Educate your fucking selves before coming out here with crap like that. Saying shit like that is like asking for the Captain to come after you with his shield. And trust me, he won’t be alone."

She watched it twice.)

 

* * *

 

When Lillie heard about Tony and Pepper Potts breaking up, she knew that she would once again be spared from having to make a ridiculous order.

She’d noticed the pattern of course, after the third time it happened, how he ordered a simple coffee whenever something major and altering happened in his life or to the world around him.

So this time, when Tony walked into the shop, around a week after the break up had been announced, and once again near the end of the lunchtime rush, like he had almost a year ago, Lillie rung him up for a Grande Blonde Roast before he even got to the register. She set the coffee in front of him with a small smile, and he looked at her for a moment, face unreadable. Lillie simply looked back at him, hand on the register, and as she watched, something seemed to break in the usually larger than life man’s eyes. But before she could figure out what, he whipped his sunglasses on over his eyes and handed her his credit card.

“Seems like I’ve become predictable, huh?” He quipped, smile wry.

“Nah,” She smiled, swiping his credit card. “Tony Stark could never be predictable.”

When she looked up to hand him back his card, she saw that his smile had disappeared. He nodded silently, slowly, as if accepting something, before taking the coffee and the card.

He walked out of the shop silently sipping his coffee, head down in the New York crowd and Lillie looked after him, frowning until he disappeared into the masses.

 

* * *

 

Lillie went for a long time without getting another order for a Grande Blond Roast from Tony. Then again, there usually was a gap, since, after all, they did coincide with events that were pretty big for him and as of now, there really wasn’t much going on for Tony, besides getting back into the armor.

( _That_  event had prompted a ridiculous celebratory drink. Lillie still shuddered thinking about it.)

However, there was a smaller change to his usual coffee routine. Namely, a tall, blond change called Captain America.

“Call me Steve.” He’d grinned at her boyishly as Tony rolled his eyes.

“I’m a forty year old man and he thinks I need a babysitter.” Tony muttered and gave Lillie the stink eye when she covered her mouth to keep from smiling.

She ended up regretting it when Tony rattled off a ridiculously complicated order once again (how much time did he spend figuring these things out?). Steve however, took mercy on her and ordered a simple Grande Americano.

Tony huffed in amusement, “Really taking the whole America thing pretty far, eh, Cap?”

This time Steve rolled his eyes, “It doesn’t do much for me, but it tastes like the coffee I had when I was down in Italy for the tour.”

“Taste buds too delicate for pure espresso?”

“Something like that.” Steve smiled at her charmingly as he took the cup from the counter. Tony raised an eyebrow at her when she smiled back shyly.

“‘Girls’ dropping left and right Cap. Still don’t understand why you aren’t out in the game.”

Lillie swallowed down a protest with a huff and slammed Tony’s venti something or other onto the counter. He grinned at her mischievously and she glared. Steve looked at Tony for a second, the tips of his ears turning red.

“Maybe I have my eye on someone.” The blond quipped.

And with that, he nodded respectfully to Lillie in thanks and walked out the door of the shop, leaving both Tony and Lillie slightly surprised. Tony looked at her for a moment, as if looking for reassurance that he hadn’t heard wrong, and grabbed his coffee, hurrying out the door. She laughed lightly, shaking her head as he yelled after Steve.

Well then.

 

* * *

 

Steve continued to come with Tony for the months afterward. The two men would walk in, bantering and laughing, order their drinks and exchange a bit of conversation that almost always made her laugh as they waited. The mystery person Steve had talked about during his first visit was never brought up again though. 

Sometime in the first month, Steve managed to convince Tony to take a bit of time and sit down in the shop while they finished their coffee once in a while every few visits. When they did stay, they’d take a small table outside of the front shop window’s line of sight and usually spent an hour, sometimes conversing, and other times, Steve would sketch while Tony worked on schematics.

After that, Tony never came to the coffee shop alone. Steve would always be right with him, ordering an Americano along with Tony’s concoction of the week.

Even in the footage of their battles as part of the Avengers, they were a pair. Lillie became used to the fact that they were now inseparable, always working with and spending time with each other.

( _The perfect bromance,_ she’d thought to herself once, and then _, they could even be a romance._ She laughed at that thought not a minute later.)

However, the idea didn't seem _completely_ unfounded most of the time. She did often find one of them look at the other when they did sit down to work, and she had seen Tony grab Steve's wrist multiple times, causing the taller man's ears to promptly turn red, but she dismissed it as simply a close friendship. There was nothing except for a few desperate tabloids that suggested that either man was gay or bi.

So, it was safe to say that the two men were just best friends. Inseparable and ridiculous.

 

* * *

 

 It was because they were always together that Lillie had started to assume that when one came into the coffee shop, the other would most definitely be right behind or next to them.

It was this assumption that caused Lillie to stop in her tracks on the way to give someone an order 4 and a half months after Steve started coming into the shop with Tony. Because, Tony was _alone._ She blinked, wondering if she was hallucinating, and looked for the blond super soldier that was usually behind him. They’d had a battle earlier that morning, and they almost always came for coffee together afterwards.

But said super soldier was nowhere in sight.

It was just Tony, hands in his jeans’ pockets, wearing a ratty t-shirt and with a bandage wrapped aorund his head. He walked up to the register with a limp and without a smile.

“Grande Blonde Roast.” He said to Jason dully. Lillie froze, a soft _oh_ escaping her before she could stop it. She made the coffee and Tony's hand shook as he picked it up at the counter. Lillie pretended that she didn't see the tremble.

However, instead of leaving, he slowly walked to the table he usually sat at with Steve. Setting down the coffee, he leaned back in his chair and pulled out this Stark Phone.

Lillie continued taking and making orders, sparing a glance towards the table Tony sat at every once in a while. The man seemed to be listening to… voicemails? She couldn't tell what he was thinking, his face was void of all emotion.

Despite her desire to satisfy her curiosity, she had to turn her attention back to the espresso machine after getting multiple orders at once. When she looked back to where Tony had been sitting after finishing the orders though, she found that the man had left the coffee shop within the few minutes she’d been distracted.

The only trace that he’d been there was the ¾ full coffee cup he left behind.

 

* * *

 

The next week, when the bell to the coffee shop rang, she looked up from the espresso machine as the volume in the shop suddenly raised a few bars. Tony and Steve walked through the doorway laughing, and Lillie gave a sigh of relief. They were back to normal.

There was something different though, she mused to herself as they walked up to the register. They were walking closer together, and their hands kept brushing. Perhaps…?

Standing close next to each other, Tony smiled at Lillie as he hip checked Steve playfully in retaliation to something the blond had said. As she punched in Steve’s usual order of an Americano, the brunet’s eyes got a glint in them and he looked up at Steve as he gave his new order.

“You know what? I’ll have a Grande Americano as well.”

Lillie laughed in realization and punched the order in.

(Steve's ears turning bright red at the order only confirmed it.)

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can interpret how they got together and the reason for it anyway you want. In my head at least, Tony had gotten hurt in the morning battle. Steve got angry, they both fought and said somethings they didn't mean. Tony decides to come down to the coffee shop just to be contrary (since it was their *thing*), finds a voicemail from Steve that convinces him of something, and runs back to the tower, and they both confess and live happily ever after with their Grande Americanos.
> 
> Also, the reason why there are not reporters involved in the post-Mandarin and post-breakup visits to the coffee shop is because I like to think that  
> A) a formal statement was made, therefore the reporters were less vulture-like  
> B) Tony snuck around a bit and didn't really look like "Tony Stark" after those two events occurred.
> 
> I do do quite a bit of research for my stories. I like to get them as factually accurate as possible.
> 
> Here's a few points :)
> 
> -There actually is a Starbucks around the corner were Stark Tower would be if it actually existed  
> -Blonde Roast coffee is one of the freshly brewed coffees available at Starbucks  
> -Americano coffee is actually thought to have originated during World War 2. Soldiers that encountered espresso in Italy usually watered down their coffee so that it would taste more like the stuff they drank at home.
> 
> This is only my second story, and while it was probably a bad idea to write such a character centric piece with not that much experience writing the characters themselves, I couldn't help myself.
> 
> I would love for anyone to drop a bit of constructive criticism. I'm only looking to improve here :)
> 
> Look for me on tumblr as well: [ faillen ](http://www.faillen.tumblr.com)
> 
> Thank you for reading :)


End file.
